Harry Potter and the Song of Shadows
by Sara Minks
Summary: Harry sees a mysterious creature in Diagon Alley- a creature that will affect all those around him except himself in a horrible way... please R/R! 5+ Reviews (not counting flames) for a Chapter 2.


Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, etc.  
  
Please review this and tell me if you think it's worth expanding on!  
  
  
  
Harry had just left his friends for the summer- a parting he hardly wanted to make, but it had to happen sooner or later- and, for the first time in his life, he was (almost) glad to be returning to Privet Drive. He had witnessed such horrors during the school year that he needed a break from all of Hogwarts to take it all in. Cedric... Voldemort... everything was too much for a nearly 15-year-old to handle. He just needed to be at peace- or as close to peaceful as the Dursley household ever was.  
  
While he had been thinking to himself on the ride back from the station, Mr. Vernon Dursley hadn't said a thing. But now, as they were pulling into Privet Drive, Harry's uncle put in a word,  
  
"Listen, boy, you need to be decent with Dudley- he didn't have a very enjoyable year." As few as these words were, and they would probably be the only ones addressed to him in the next month, besides "Brush your hair" or "Clean up the dishes"; and, coming from Mr. Dursley, they were almost friendly.  
  
"I'll bet," Harry muttered under his breath, and yet smiled, because he knew that this near-kindness was his godfather's doing- Mr. Dursley was terrified of what Sirius might do to him if he was less-than-polite to Harry.  
  
Then next 3 weeks happened mostly without incident; Harry's birthday came and went, not without some packages from Ron (his very own copy of Quidditch Through the Ages- Ron knew how often he checked it out of the library) and Hermione (A copy of Hogwarts, a History), not to mention a neon green, purple, bright orange, and brown hand-knitted scarf from Dobby and a dragon fossil from Hagrid- something that surprised Harry greatly, because you couldn't get that at Hogsmeade, and Harry had never known Hagrid to go more than a few miles away from the castle. But he put that in the back of his mind, his presents under the loose floorboard in his room, and only took them out at night to admire them. Who knows what the Dursleys might do if they saw Harry got presents. Also, despite Uncle Vernon's comment on the ride home, Harry had problems trying not to laugh each time he saw Dudley- he seemed to have lost some weight, but it seemed that the reason for this was that he had been teased at school for it. This was a guess, of course, because no one at the Dursley house would ever admit to this, but judging by Aunt Petunia's constant comments to him, such as "Eat up, sweetums, no need to worry while you're with mommy", it wasn't too hard to figure it out. Even staying at Mrs. Figg's wasn't that bad- except for the fact that he had a sneaking suspicion he had wanted to ask her about something, or that he had heard her name recently, but he couldn't remember why.  
  
No, everything was overall normal- he got a letter from Ron and Hermione saying to meet him at Diagon Alley, where they'd be staying at the Leaky Cauldron once again, so that they could get their things together and go to the station together too. After careful consideration (not to mention a few well-timed comments about Sirius), Uncle Vernon let him go. He seemed pretty happy to get rid of him without incident, actually, and intended to keep it that way- which is why he dropped him off in the street in front of the Leaky Cauldron, without even bothering to get out of the car. He thought himself pretty witty, actually, because he had dropped Harry off at an empty lot, but in the blink of an eye, Harry had disappeared. Vernon shook off the feeling that he was missing something with an involuntary shudder, and went back on his way.  
  
As for Harry, he dropped off his things at the Leaky Cauldron, let Hedwig out for a bit of fresh air, and went out to find Hermione and Ron at Flourish and Blotts.  
  
Little did he know that he was being watched. 


End file.
